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Government High School, Balakot
Rubble of the many houses in Balakot.
CWS Pakistan/Afghanistan

Case Study 12: A Tragic End of the Road

Date: 01 November 2005
Name: Abdur Rehman
Place: Balakot, North West Frontier Province, Pakistan

Abdur Rehman, aged 55, a resident of Balakot, was an expatriate Pakistani working in Saudi Arabia in a multinational corporation. He had worked in Saudi Arabia for more than a decade and had recently constructed a house from his savings.

In this newly built house lived Abdur Rehman’s parents and their two adult granddaughters and two grandsons. The grandsons were studying in Intermediate and Class Nine, respectively.

Abdur Rehman was performing his duties as usual on 8 October 2005 when he received a phone call from Pakistan. He was told that his entire family had died in the earthquake--caught under the rubble of his newly built house.

Not being able to stand the shock of the news, Abdur Rehman ran out of his office and went onto the road. Rehman was unaware of the car that came streaming towards him, which a minute later left him dead.

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